PITHORAGARH/DEHRADUN: People ran out of their houses in panic at several places in Uttarakhand after a 6.3-magnitude earthquake, with its epicentre in neighbouring Nepal, hit the lower Himalayan region in the early hours of Wednesday.
The tremors were felt across the hill state, including in Pithoragarh, Bageshwar, Almora, Champawat, Udham Singh Nagar, Nainital, Rudraprayag, Chamoli, Tehri, Pauri, Haridwar, Uttarkashi and Dehradun districts.
The epicentre of the earthquake was located around 90 km from the border district of Pithoragarh.
Jolted out of their sleep as they heard window panes rattling, people ran out of their houses in panic and waited outside in anticipation of aftershocks for hours.
"I woke up and ran outside after I heard the window panes rattling and saw the fan swaying," said Prabha, a resident of Kasani village in Pithoragarh.
"A second jolt was also felt at 6.29 am.
But it was milder in comparison," a shopkeeper named Pramod Dwivedi in the Munsiyari sub-division of Pithoragarh said.
People standing in huddles outside their houses were seen sending messages on their mobile phones to their relatives and friends.
Pithoragarh's District Disaster Management Officer B S Mahar said there was no information of any damage to life and property from any part of the district.
"We woke up in the dead of night and rushed to safety. However, no damage was caused in our village.
We are in touch with those in the interior parts of the district to find out if they suffered any damage," Mohit Bhandari, a villager from Sailekh in Nepal's Baitari district, said.
"Villagers rushed out of their homes immediately after the jolts that lasted for more than five seconds.
Even after the jolts were over, they were afraid of going back to their homes anticipating aftershocks," said Santosh Raj Joshi, a member of the Niglasaini Nagar Palika in Baitari.
The tremors were also felt in the Haridwar and Chamoli districts of Uttarakhand's Garhwal region. A Haridwar resident said the tremors lasted for around 20 seconds.
At Gwaldam in Chamoli, the tremors were intense. According to a resident, the tremors lasted for nearly half a minute.
Niraj Negi, a resident of Gopeshwar, said people ran out of their homes in panic as they felt the jolts. However, there was no report of any damage to life and property from anywhere in the state.
Mild and low-intensity earthquakes are frequent in the hills of Uttarakhand.
A 4.5-magnitude earthquake shook parts of the Garhwal region on the morning of November 6. It had its epicentre in the Tehri district.